metalgearfandomcom-20200222-history
ArmsTech
ArmsTech Inc.Metal Gear Solid manual, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (1998). Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2001). In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth: "Ocelot challenged Snake when he came looking for Kenneth Baker, the President of ArmsTech Inc." (AT), also known as ArmsTech Corp, and later ArmsTech Security was one of the largest and most powerful defense subcontractors in the United States. The corporate headquarters was based in Seattle, Washington. History Origins ArmsTech achieved rapid growth during the Cold War in what was a boom time for the arms industry, and became the second largest arms manufacturer in the world. ArmsTech was involved in the development of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) and the rail gun, but they suffered an enormous financial loss when those projects were terminated due to military cutbacks in the 1990s.Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (1998). Kenneth Baker You know, our industry suffered quite a blow as a result of the cuts in military budgets due to this so-called "peace". Moreover, although ArmsTech led the world in the development of stealth technology, they experienced tremendous economic difficulty because of their failure in their bid to manufacture the USAF's next line of main fighter planes. At this moment, ArmsTech was on the verge of bankruptcy, with rumors ensuing that it was the target of a hostile takeover.Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (1998). Solid Snake: Did you find it? // Otacon: No, I haven't found out about the override system yet, but I found Baker's ulterior motive. // Snake: He's just looking to get rich, isn't he? // Otacon: That's part of it. ArmsTech is in much worse financial trouble than I thought. // Snake: I know they lost their bid to make the next-generation fighter jet. That plus the reduction in SDI spending... // Otacon: It looks like there was even some talk of a hostile takeover. // Snake: Everything was riding on this project, I guess. This Codec conversation is triggered should the player answer Otacon's call before approaching the control room staircase. Metal Gear REX project Circa May 1996, ArmsTech proposed the development of Metal Gear REX to DARPA, which became a secret black project. The Pentagon's black budget had earlier been freed up after the cancellation of the Arsenal Ship Project, following the death of CNO Admiral Boorda, during its second trials.Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2001). In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth: "The total amount is difficult to estimate, but there is little doubt that Anderson had been bribed to the tune of an astronomical sum. Even the government's Black Budget had limits, however. I recalled a rumor from some years before the Anderson payoff started. The CNO (Chief of Naval Operations) at the time had a classified pet project, and the scuttlebutt was that it involved the construction of a completely new type of battleship. Just what kind of a ship was never revealed, since the entire program fell apart after the CNO suddenly passed away. The unexpected death coincided with ArmTech’s launch of the Metal Gear development program. The Black Budget earmarked for the CNO’s little project must have been freed up by his death; the question was whether it had been freed up for allocation to the new Metal Gear development. The manner of the CNO’s death was officially ruled a suicide, but I could not help recall the theories to the contrary that had made its rounds back then." ArmsTech heavily bribed the chief of DARPA Donald Anderson to back the REX program. They were creating REX to secretly promote a nuclear installation plan in an attempt to overcome a global trend of military downsizing. The rest of the Department of Defense also agreed to the development, namely because they were caught in a similarly bad financial state. In 2002, ArmsTech proceeded with Metal Gear REX's construction at a nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island, Alaska. The project was overseen by ArmsTech chief engineer Hal Emmerich who was unaware he was developing a nuclear attack system, instead thinking that he was developing a machine to shoot down missiles for defensive purposes. In addition, the installation of REX's capability of launching stealth nukes via its rail gun, had it been exposed to the public, would have resulted in ArmsTech being shut down, and its president, Kenneth Baker himself facing an inquiry.Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (1998) Kenneth Baker: You've got to stop them. If it goes public, my company and I are... finished. // Solid Snake: What? Doesn't Metal Gear use currently existing technology? // Kenneth Baker: Metal Gear itself does, but... // (Baker suddenly bends over in pain and groans in agony as if experiencing a heart attack, in a manner similar to the DARPA Chief.) // Solid Snake: Huh!? // Kenneth Baker: What... what did you do to me!? Uh... oooh...no! ...Ooh. Oh no, it can't be! ...those Pentagon bastards! ...So they...they actually went ahead and did it! // Solid Snake: What are you talking about!? // Kenneth Baker: They... they're just... using you for... uuuhhh... By early 2005, ArmsTech had created a new type of nuclear warhead to be used by Metal Gear REX, which was virtually undetectable to enemy defensive systems, and thus could not be intercepted. REX's secret development was divulged after an incident in which a rogue special forces group, led by the renegade FOXHOUND, planned on hijacking the weapon to achieve their own goals. This was thwarted by a lone mercenary hired by the government named Solid Snake. After the incident became public through the release of Nastasha Romanenko's In the Darkness of Shadow Moses, the ensuing controversy surrounding the incident and how it directly went against the Sears Administration's stance on nuclear disarmament and anti-eugenic policies led to the eventual resignation of President George Sears. Baker was on hand during the takeover to oversee the final testing of Metal Gear REX and died during the revolt as a result of FOXDIE, a genetically engineered virus that was also revealed in Nastasha's book, in order to silence him. Baker, immediately prior to his death, also urged the operative sent to dispel the terrorist occupation, Solid Snake to retrieve the data and send it to the Pentagon and quickly quell the incident, as he feared the backlash that would have resulted from the incident had it gone public, causing Snake to become suspicious about what Metal Gear had in terms of equipment. After the incident the specifications for Metal Gear REX were leaked onto the black market by Revolver Ocelot. Post-Shadow Moses Despite the death of its president and the failure of the REX Project, ArmsTech itself survived. At some point after 2006, ArmsTech obtained designs for the canard/rotor wing aircraft, previously a DARPA-funded research project, and successfully resolved issues relating to fixed-wing flight transition.Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Kojima Productions/Platinum Games (2013). Raiden: Pretty wild. And the Hammerhead is the only one out there. // Doktor: The design began as DARPA-funded research. The craft they designed could hover and take off well enough... But they could never figure out how to handle going over to fixed-wing. The project was cancelled in 2006... but AT Corp apparently picked up where they left off. With the emergence of the "war economy" following the Big Shell Incident, ArmsTech shifted its focus from weapons development to security tools, and rebranded itself as AT Security.Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Kojima Productions (2008). Roy Campbell: The Pentagon's new battlefield control system has produced a decisive difference... Between hired guns and the PMCs of today. The system was developed by ArmsTech Security. // Solid Snake: ArmsTech? You mean AT Corp? // Campbell: In recent years, AT Corp has shifted focus from weapons development to security tools. And since the establishment of AT Security, business has been booming. The system makes it possible to integrate not only micro-level information on individual soldiers and units, but also macro-level information about field conditions and order of battle. // Snake: So, they've finally achieved total real-time battlefield control? // Campbell: That's right. And as a result, the global presence of PMCs has grown explosively. Truth is, the rise of system-controlled PMCs has led to a dramatic decline in civilian casualties and human rights violations on the battlefield. // Snake: A cleaner, safer battlefield. Makes for nice propaganda. In 2011, ArmsTech was responsible for developing and implementing Sons of the Patriots, a battlefield control system designed for both macro- and micro-level management of all soldiers engaged in combat action. Combined with America's reluctance to involve itself in other countries' military affairs, SOP paved the way for an abundant growth in the use of private military companies. ArmsTech also developed the unmanned bipedal weapon IRVING, codenamed Gekko,Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Kojima Productions (2008). Otacon: AT Corp's unmanned bipedal weapons. Officially designated "Irving" by the US military. They've spread like wildfire among the PMCs. There are more of those things now in service than tanks. They've got tough armor plating and are highly agile to boot. Your best bet is to stay out of their sights. as well the smaller, three-armed Dwarf Gekko.Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Kojima Productions (2008). Otacon: So the manufacturer, AT Corp, developed a new, smaller UGV based on the Gekko archetype for just that kind of mission. And the latest word is they're about to start field testing. // Solid Snake: And that's what these things are? // Otacon: More than likely. That's all the information I have. The very existence of these things is still top secret. // Snake: Pint-sized Gekko, huh? Dwarf Gekko... By 2014, AT Security's s SOP System had become firmly entrenched within both government and private militaries. AT's unnmanned ground vehicles also saw wide use among the PMCs of Outer Heaven. During this time, Drebin 893 claimed to work in production control at AT Security, which was where he acquired ID weapon chips for his gun laundering business, before they had been registered on the SOP System.Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Kojima Productions (2008). Drebin: My day job's working at AT (ArmsTech) Security. I'm in charge of production control... So I get my hands on the ID chips before they're even registered. World Marshal Incidents After 2014, AT Security shifted its focus back to weapons development. One weapon developed by 2018 was Metal Gear EXCELSUS, which was intended to raze cities to the ground. Notable technologies developed * Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) *﻿ Rail gun * Stealth camouflage * Stealth nuclear missile * Metal Gear REX * Hammerhead Canard/Rotor Wing * Sons of the Patriots System * Gekko * Dwarf Gekko * Metal Gear EXCELSUS Unconfimed history ArmsTech Inc. lost their bid to manufacture the USAF's next line of main fighter planes to one of their rivals, a stealth company, due to an unlawful relationship that existed between the latter and the Pentagon. However, the official reason given was due to the enormous costs of developing such a vehicle using advanced technology. Metal Gear Solid Official Mission Handbook, Millennium Books (1998). Behind the scenes .]] ArmsTech initially appeared in the Hideo Kojima game ''Policenauts. It later featured in Metal Gear Solid as the organization responsible for the creation of Metal Gear REX, the main threat in the game. In Hideo Kojima's "Grand Game Plan" for Metal Gear Solid 2, ArmsTech was to have had some involvement in the assassination of Admiral Boorda, after winning over the DARPA Chief, in order to halt the Arsenal Ship Project and advance REX's development.Metal Gear Solid 2 Grand Game Plan by Hideo Kojima, Konami Japan (1999), translation by Marc Laidlaw of junkerhq.net. Connections to the previous game: The Arsenal Ship Program, initiated in 1996, initially fell through in 1998. ArmsTech, the company behind the REX Project, lost its bid to build Arsenal Ship at Phase II. Wanting to advance (obtain funding for) the REX Project, ArmsTech, led by Kenneth Baker, were able to win over the DARPA Chief, Donald Anderson, and assassinate the proponent of Arsenal Ship, the 25th CNO. Although this was not retained in the final version, the idea still exists in Nastasha Romanenko's novel In the Darkness of Shadow Moses, where she alludes to rumors about the connection between Boorda's death and the start of REX's development. Similarly, another reference to the rumors was to have been included in Scott Dolph's speech during the Tanker Incident, although this was cut from the game.Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Scenario Book . ‘The predecessor to this project RAY was the Arsenal Ship Program of the mid-90s. However, the man heading it up, Admiral Boorda, unexpectedly committed suicide in May of 1996, resulting in the program being abruptly shelved at Phase II, its stage of functional planning. Development on Metal Gear REX began immediately afterwards, a fact which gave rise to a number of rumors surrounding the admiral’s death, as I’m sure you’re all aware.’ The ArmsTech logo makes a cameo appearance in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker on the bottom-left of the labels on the briefing file tapes. Whether this was intended to be an Easter egg, or an implication that ArmsTech had been involved in the manufacture of early tape cassettes, is unclear. Although the ArmsTech in the series is fictional, there is a real Arms Tech weapons manufacturing company that was established in 1987 in Phoenix, Arizona.http://www.armstechltd.com/index.php ArmsTech appeared as the antagonistic force in the fan made film, ''Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy''.'' Appearances *Policenauts'' *''Metal Gear Solid'' *''Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty'' (mentioned) *''Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes'' *''Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots'' *''Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance'' (mentioned) References Category:Groups Category:Metal Gear Creators